Global Security Newswire

An unidentified British group attempted to buy 1,100 pounds of saponin last year and might have wanted the chemical to create an easily spread chemical weapon, the Associated Press reported Saturday (see GSN, Feb. 6).

Officials at Amersham Biosciences grew suspicious because of the size of the order and links between the prospective buyer and Islamic organizations. The company stopped the order, which was being processed in Sweden, and alerted authorities.

Saponin enhances the transmission of molecules through cells and might have been intended for use with a dangerous chemical such as ricin, according to experts. London police officials would not comment on the incident.

The company’s policy is to “consider the potential risk of misuse” of its products and to question “when peculiar orders are placed with us whether we actually should allow them to be delivered,” said Lennart Arlinger, Amersham’s business development director (Associated Press/London Guardian, Nov. 22).

Arlinger said the saponin might have been used “as an enhancer of a biological weapon.”

Company officials were also cautious after the group claimed it was purchasing the saponin for use as “as fire retardant on rice intended for human consumption” (Stephen Fidler, Financial Times, Nov. 21).